Two unions representing nearly 1,000 employees of Sanofi Canada are joining the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology’s DBplus pension plan.
Both Unifor Local 1701 and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 772 will join the plan effective April 1, according to a press release, which noted the company is joining the multi-employer plan in part to focus on its core business by exiting its pension management function. Sanofi Canada is the first pharmaceutical company to join the DBplus plan.
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“Merging Sanofi’s unionized employees’ pension assets into the CAAT DBplus plan represented a win-win outcome for both parties during negotiations,” said Gary Kidson, head of human resources for Sanofi, in the release. “Our employees will benefit from moving to a larger multi-employer pension that includes benefits not covered in their current plan, while we also achieved our objective to reduce liabilities and free up working capital for research and development and capital investments.”
The plan now has members across Canada from 10 industries, including Brink’s Canada Ltd., Torstar Corp., the United Way of Greater Toronto, the University of Saskatchewan and The Vancouver Foundation.